I have a degree in ME, FYI. The thing that interested me in engineering was the assumptions that began every problem. Most of these assumptions are philosophical assumptions that engineers are habituated to ignore.
What do I mean by "cat?" Well, if I say "cat," and don't qualify it further (say, by mentioning bobcat, lions, tigers, etc.), I mean a common house cat. Species Felis, Genus Catus.
Which begs the question. The terms "genus" and "species" are derived from Aristotle's philsophy, which was not materialist, as yours seems to be.
What breed is irrelevant. if it can breed with a Felis Catus and have offspring which are fertile, then it's a Felis Catus, common housecat. Any discussion beyond that is meaningless Liberal Arts crap.
It seems to me that things you don't understand you regard as "Liberal Arts" crap. I understand. I used to believe the same thing. It's generally a healthy reflex, since most liberal arts colleges teach liberal arts crap. But not all liberal arts study is crap.
Studying Aristotle would be worthwhile, for example, particularly the categories and the four causes.
> The problem: For Hume, Stuart Mill, Spencer, and Taine there is strictly speaking no universal concept. That's *their* problem. Most of the rest of humanity is able to get along just fine, and more or less perfectly understand the people they communicate with. I leave it to philosophers to waste their lives navel-gazing and wondering at the whichness of the why.
It's your problem, since you share their philosophical assumptions. You're a nominalist, whether you recognize it or not.
> The thing that interested me in engineering was the assumptions that began every problem. Most of these assumptions are philosophical assumptions that engineers are habituated to ignore.
Because these "assumptions" hold in the real world. We start from the assumption, for example, that F=M*A isn't going to just change to F=M*1.2A for the hell of it. Engineers leave such assumptions to the Creationists.
> The terms "genus" and "species" are derived from Aristotle's philsophy
Big Deal. "Easter" was derived from "Ostara." Does that make Easter dependant upon pre-Christian pagan Europeans?
> It seems to me that things you don't understand you regard as "Liberal Arts" crap.
Incorrect. I regard as "Liberal Arts" crap things which are "Liberal Arts" crap. Such as this meaningless discussion. Shall we now discuss the philosophical ramifications of the fact that Dog and God are the same word, just spelled differently?
> Studying Aristotle would be worthwhile
Studying Archimedes even more so.
> You're a nominalist, whether you recognize it or not.
Meh. And you might well be a Hoosifrudgian, for all you know, in the view of the Circling Poets of Arium. Does it make a difference to you? Does that snippet of knowledge effect whether you get up and go to work, whether you think the sky is blue, or what your mood is?